Posts by Eak 5 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Nov 2009
I'm shocked... Shocked, I tell you, that there are no hysterical Flash fanbois (Flashbois?) screaming their heads off about a lack of Flash and threatening to never buy a Microsoft product again. There's a word for this, people... it begins with an "h" and rhymes with dippocrite.
C'mon Adobe evangelists, don't let me down!
Hey everyone (Adobe Flashbois, I'm looking at you)... Did you hear? Microsoft just released a <strikethrough>smart</strikethrough>socialphone that *gasp* DOESN"T SUPPORT FLASH.
Horror.
Terror.
Quick, you should all line up and never use a Microsoft product again, after such an egregious affront to the Holy Church of Flash.
Oh, wait. You can't use Apple products because of no Flash on the iPhone and now we can't use Microsoft products because of no Flash on the KIN... but... but... Flash Pro CS4 only runs on OSX and Windows... What will you ever do now?
Oh, I forgot. It's only cool to boycott Apple over Flash. There's a word for this. It begins with an "h" and rhymes with dypocrite.
PS I still don't want Flash on my BlackBerry.
Wow, reading these comments... it seems like people are so tied up in pissing and moaning about "Flash Good/Flash Bad", they're ignoring the bigger picture(s):
1. THIS IS NOT ABOUT FLASH. Jesus Harold Christ, people. Can we please look at what is actually going on? Multitasking eats power but is convenient. iPhones already have poor battery life. Apple figures out a way to implement multitasking on their platform without forcing you to keep your "wireless" phone plugged in at all times. They mandate best practices which include using the only compiler they know will support this. (Other companies do this, too. Quitcherbitchin.) A senior Adobe employee goes ballistic and acts very unprofessionally. End of story.
2. In an UNRELATED move, Apple doesn't want Flash on the iPhone for reasons that, frankly, are valid. Flash is a useful tool, in my opinion. But that's it; it's a TOOL. Not a religion. It's not your significant other. It's not some poor starving Haitian orphan. It's tool. Nothing more. In some instances, it is a good tool. In some, it's buggier than a tropical swamp. In the case of Apple, Adobe's actions have been less than stellar. It makes sense, in my opinion, to not allow Flash on the iPhone--or any mobile device. Heck, I'm thrilled it's not on my BlackBerry. Some people, however, seem to take it personally that we live in a resource constrained world. I wish I could magic all of you up a phone that has a quad core, multi-gigahertz processor, several gigs of RAM, a terabyte or so of storage AND a 2 year battery life. I can't. Not yet. Neither can Apple. Or RIM. Or Microsoft. Thus, tradeoffs have to be made. To capitalize on the outrage of people who don't seem to understand (even though they should) this basic fact of life, a senior Adobe employee has chosen to try and confuse issues 1 & 2 in an unprofessional manner.
Oh, and three asides:
1. The day Flash finally is supported by my BlackBerry is the day I'll start building a way to block it. I like my battery life, thanks just the same.
2. My mum has an older MacBook. She likes watching videos of cats playing chopsticks, etc. Safari on her MacBook was crashing on the average of once a week. I switched her to FireFox. Same deal. I switched her back to Safari and installed ClickToFlash. Not a crash since.
3. The last time I bought a new laptop, I had to "upgrade" Adobe Suites. (Yes, I use some of their products professionally.) The Adobe upgrade cost me the same as my new computer. Something's wrong here.
Longtime Apple user here and (probably borderline Apple FanBoi--as much as I don't want to admit it, honesty compels me to....) I am NOT a fan of the iPhone--my work gave me a 3GS and after two months of heavy use... You can have my _BlackBerry_ when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
MAYBE I'll give the iPhone another go (as our IT dept. seems hell-bent on pushing them on us unsuspecting users) once it has multitasking, once it can sync SMS logs/photos/call logs/ to my PC via Bluetooth, once it can access the files stored on my corporate network while I'm in the field, and once it can get more than half the battery life of most BlackBerries.
Moral of the story: Don't automatically assume that everyone who dislikes the iPhone has never tried or can't afford one. (Oh, and learn how to write. Your lack of punctuation skills will not get you girls. Not even Paris.)
stefan 5 fail
"Five years ago, the idea of a stand alone ebook reader might have made sense. Today it doesn't."
Right... and the idea of a stand-alone mp3 player or digital camera no longer makes sense either with cell phones letting me listen to music and take pictures.
Yet iPods and Nikons still sell.
Why? Because while Digital Audio or Photography on cell phones may make sense for a lot of people, but having individual devices that SPECIALIZE and offer a better experience at that one speciality make quite a lot of sense for a lot of other people.
Yes, I listen to music on my cell phone on my way to and from work (and classical music on my Sony Reader--yes, it plays audio--when I'm reading)... but when I go running, camping, etc. my old (pre-video) iPod Nano is a lot more convenient and durable. When I'm out I'll take a quick pic with my phone because it's convenient, but if I know I'm going to want to take pictures, I bring my Nikon because it takes better pictures, it can use optical lenses, etc.
The specialization of the stand-alone eBook reader is the display. Yes, being able to read a chapter or two on my phone, computer or a mythical iTablet would be nice, but for any real reading (ie more than a few minutes at a stretch)... a stand-alone reader is best. You see, it's all about the screen (and no, a hideously expensive OLED screen will not be easier on your eyes...). I once read a book on my old Palm III while flying from Boston to LA... It was adequate to my needs, but not a pleasant experience. I have often read eBooks on a variety of computer displays. Again, adequate but not great. I spend probably at least 5 hours a week reading on my eBook reader and it is truly a pleasure to use. I would have always chosen a physical book over my Palm III or a computer display, given the choice... but I often choose my eBook reader over a physical copy of the same book.
If that's not the hallmark of success...
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